R404 The Believer’s Equipment

Having the right tools, the right equipment is important for all of us. Today, the Believer's equipment is the message from Dr. Don Wilson. As we open God's Word together, know that we are open to talk and pray with you at www.tewonline.org and 866-899-WORD, www.tewonline.org and 866-899-WORD.

And now, Dr. Don Wilson. I want you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10.

Please take a copy of your Bibles this morning and turn there with me. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Right here at this juncture, Paul, if he were standing in this pulpit today unconvinced, this is what he would say. Paul would say now, Dear friends, you've given your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you making absolutely certain that you are carrying with you and making available to you all the means and the equipment designed by God and through His church to help you to overcome and to be victorious in your life?

Now look at what Paul says in chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, I want you to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, my friends, are you listening this morning? Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, are you listening? Stand firm then.

How? With a belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted or shod with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Are you listening? Now, in addition to all of this, there are a few more things Paul would have us to pay attention to. Take up the shield of faith, my friends, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And by the way, are you listening? Pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, says Paul, that whenever I open my mouth, that words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should. Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord will tell you everything so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. I'm sending him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage you. Peace to the brothers and love and faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts this morning. Isn't that a wonderful passage of scripture? Just filled with the riches of God's grace. You know, it seems to me that Paul at this point is saying to believers, I really believe in my heart that you're ready to go.

Now Paul here in Ephesians chapter six, he takes the word of God and he says to us, listen, I want you to know something very special. There is a point at which you are not necessarily ready to go, but at which God lets you go. And when you do go, you can be ready. You can face whatever there is. You can handle all the circumstances of life. You can be an overcomer.

You can have the victory. Now in chapters one through three of Paul's letter, Paul explains the relationship and the position of a person who is saved by grace. We've looked at that. He tells us four things. Number one, that we become members of Christ's body. Number two, that we receive Christ's resurrection power. Number three, that we are seated with him. And number four, that nothing can alter our position in Christ.

I love that fourth point. You see that doesn't matter what's happening where we are, what we're doing or how we're doing it or what circumstance we find ourselves in. The Bible says to us, my friends, when we are members of Christ's body, when we have received God's resurrection power, when we are seated with him, we are secured in him.

We are held by him. But in chapter four through six, the latter part of this letter to the Ephesians, there is a shifting of gears and Paul now tells us how we can quote unquote flesh out our positional truths in the daily exercise of our lives and our lifestyle. Paul tells us how we can work out our salvation, how we can conduct ourselves in this life. Now, why does he say that it's necessary for us to know how to flesh out our lives?

There's a simple reason because of our human appetites. All of us struggle with that. All of us are bound by our human predicaments and by our human appetites and our human and earthly desires.

And the apostle Paul climaxes in chapter six by saying to us, listen, dear friends, when you accept Jesus Christ, you become a part of a new family. You must put off the old self. You must stop participating in evil. You must be careful how you walk. And guess what?

You must carry with you the right equipment when you do so. Now, I wrote down a bunch of S's here. Chapter one and verse four, he tells us we've been selected. In chapter one and verse seven, he tells us we've been saved. In chapter one verse 13 and four verse 30, he tells us we've been sealed.

I like that, don't you? We've been sealed. Do you know what God says? God says, wait a minute. I want you to know that when you belong to me, I seal you with the deposit of the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing your delivery unto the day of salvation. And when I seal you, I seal you and I captivate all the fragrance and the riches of God's grace in you.

That's what I do. Do you know what happens in life, folks? Everybody wants to bite a little bit of your Snickers bar.

Everybody, everything, every circumstance is going to be trying to pop open your sealing, your vacuum packing. They're going to try and the devil is going to do everything he can. But God says, listen, not only have you been selected and saved, but you've been sealed. Then you've been seated. You've been secured.

And guess what? In chapter three and verse 16, you have been strengthened. And how does Paul try to drive this point home? He takes an analogy from his own day and age, and he gives us the picture of a Roman soldier. It's right a Roman soldier. Paul knew about Roman soldiers in his time. And Paul tells us what it means to be a Roman soldier. And Paul draws the analogy of a Roman soldier and how a Roman soldier has to dress and equip himself and prepare to do what he has to do in order to honor his commitment. And he looks at the Roman soldier and he takes the preciousness of the word of God. And he begins to give to the Roman soldier the same specifics that he gives to the believer. And he says, I'm going to give you specific pieces of armor in order to protect specific areas of your life from specific attacks by the devil.

He's very specific. And he looks at this man and he says, I have a Roman soldier in front of me not unlike the believer. You see, the believer says, Lord Jesus, I'm now part of your army.

You've saved me. You are my commanding general. And I'm at your command, sir.

You see, Jesus Christ is not just our savior. He's our Lord. He is the chief. He is the commanding officer.

He's the one who instructs and he's the one who sends us out and says, if you're going to serve me and my army, I'm going to give you the right equipment. And so he looks at him and he says to him, believer, soldier, I want you to do a number of things. First of all, I want you to put on the belt of truth.

You can see it right there in verse 40. And he says, stand firm then with the belt of truth. Why would he begin with a belt? Why would he begin with a belt of truth? Now there's some very interesting things about what Paul tells us in verse 14.

The verb tense here is within itself significant because the verb tense speaks of a completed action. He has already given us the instruction to put on the whole armor of God. Now he says, having girded yourself with the belt of truth, I want you to begin your journey. Why does he talk about something that has already been spoken of?

Paul is saying something rather interesting. You know, the Romans wore the belt around their military uniform for different reasons. There were three kinds of belts. The first kind of belt was a, a breach like leather belt, somewhat like we see here this morning that was designed to protect the lower abdomen. There was a second kind of belt, which was a sword belt that the Roman soldiers put on that was designed to, to take the sword that they would use to fight with.

And the third one was a special belt or a, a sash, if you please, that carried with it the, the soldier's office. And it spoke of the authority that he carried with him. When someone saw a Roman soldier coming toward them, they looked at his belt and his belt carried with it the authority that the Roman soldier carried.

He carried the authority of the entire Roman empire, not the least of which Caesar Augustus or the reigning emperor. Seems to me very interesting friends that Paul would begin with a belt of truth. Why begin there? Well, because it holds the scabbard or the sword. It keeps his tunic in place.

It secures the breast plate, which is going to follow. But I'm going to submit to you that the belt of truth, my friends, is an essential and foundational aspect of the very essence of who the soldier is. You see truth sets you free.

Indeed it does set you free. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word. And every day he puts truth in my email box and we'll do the same for you if you sign up for the daily encouraging word devotional from Dr. Don Wilton on our website. It's TEWonline.org.

That's TEWonline.org. Click the icon to sign up for the daily encouraging word and you'll receive that blessing about six o'clock Eastern every day with an application of God's word that can help change your life. Let's let the truth set us free.

Now diving back in, it's Dr. Don Wilton on the believers' equipment. Today's message on the encouraging word. And I believe that what God is saying is that when you cling to the belt of truth, you carry with you the very essence of everything that Jesus Christ is. Jesus Himself said many, many years later, He said, I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life. And before you do anything in this world, you need to buckle the belt of truth around you and you need to carry me everywhere you go. That's what He's saying.

What an inestimable privilege. Perhaps if Paul was here today, he would say, ladies and gentlemen, fasten your truth belts. He wouldn't even consider seat belts. He would say fasten your truth belts. But then there was a second thing that he spoke of and he instructed us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Look at it in verse 14 there.

The two are kind of juxtaposed together. He says, stand firm with a belt of truth buckled around your waist and also with the breastplate of righteousness in place. The breastplate of righteousness, a remarkable instrument of war. I don't have to remind us this morning that during Paul's time, they didn't have high explosive anti-tank missiles and they didn't shoot bazookas at one another and have landmines and all those kinds of things. They used to use stabbing spears. And what the Roman soldier had to do more than anything else was to protect his vital organs. This was just one of those steps.

And Paul was saying, wait a minute, be a soldier. You need to be protected. And what do you need to be protected from most of all? Your heart. You see, dear friends, when Satan wants to get us down, he goes for our hearts. The heart is the seat of emotion.

He gets hold of our hearts. The Bible says from the heart, everything else becomes a wellspring that the heart is the essence of what mankind really is. And Paul, looking to the born again believer says, finally, if you are going to be strong in the Lord, I want you to go out fully equipped, not just with the belt of truth, but with the breastplate of righteousness. Why? Because it is God's righteousness that will protect your heart.

Why? Because all of the attributes of God are to be contained in the holiness of God, in the righteousness of God. Paul says, you not only receive the righteousness of God, but you are called to live the righteousness of God.

The call that we have to lead a holy life and a life that is well pleasing in God's sight. And then perhaps in understanding what God is saying, Paul looks at the believer using the analogy of the Roman soldier. And he says, before I forget, soldier, I want you to put on the shoes of a soldier.

Now, the word here in the original language, which probably would have made a lot more sense back in Paul's time. Paul said, I want you to shod, S-H-O-D your shoes. He said, put them on, fasten them on, fasten them on properly. Put them on. I don't want these things coming off. Put them on properly. That's it.

Good job. Tie them on. Tie them on. That word shod there means that you put them on with a vast grip that they are glued onto the very essence of everything that you are. Why would Paul place such an emphasis upon our shoes?

In Romans, Paul put it like this, Romans chapter 10 and verse 15. He said, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. And Paul, when talking about the shoes of the soldier was pointing to three things. Number one, protection. Number two, endurance.

And number three, enhanced capability. Paul looks at us and he says, as you go into the world, your shoes need to be fastened down and you need to wear the shoes of a soldier. Now, so that God can take you anywhere and everywhere God wants you to be. Then he goes on from there and he says to the soldier and to the believer, I want you to take the shield of faith. Verse 16, he says, in addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Why did he talk about the shield of faith? You see, friend, he didn't just call this a shield. He didn't just talk about the fact that this shield is going to be the means by which you and I are going to be able to evade all the darts and extinguish the darts of the evil one.

But he called this what? The shield of faith. What is our faith? Faith is the essence of our belief.

I'm going to give you a guarantee today. If the cults want to get at you, you know where they're going to aim their darts? At your faith. They're going to try and break down your faith.

They're going to be coming in and Paul was saying, wait a minute, you're a soldier. Give me this thing. Give me this thing.

Give me this thing. That's what's going to happen. They're going to try and take it away from you. Hold on to your shield of faith. That's what God's word is saying. God's word is saying, my friends, that your faith is going to be in direct proportion to your life.

What you believe is going to determine the way in which you live. And your faith is going to protect you from rumour, from fear, from doubt, from anxiety, from attacks, from sickness. And it is with the shield of faith that you're going to be able to counteract every attack from the enemy. Then he says, I want you to put on the helmet of salvation in verse 17. Why would he talk about the helmet of salvation?

Perhaps my friends, because Paul realized that if you receive a blow to the head, it will be a fatal blow. He's talking about the seat of our understanding. He's talking about the assurance of our salvation. When he says put on the helmet of salvation, he's putting on the three aspects of our salvation. Number one, justification, past tense, what God has already done for me in Christ Jesus. He's putting on number two, sanctification, which is present tense, what God is doing for me because I'm not only was saved, but I am being saved. And number three, glorification, the future tense of my salvation, what I am going to become.

God's word says that my salvation is my assurance in him. And then he says finally, but not conclusively, I want you to take the sword of the Spirit in verse 17, the word of God. I want you to take that sword.

I want you to take something that will enable you to go on the offensive. I don't want you to be apathetic in your Christian faith. I want you to be a true disciple. Friend, what is a disciple? Jesus said, if any man will come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Discipleship is an action thing.

It is not a passive thing. Discipleship is being and doing everything that Jesus Christ has called me to be and to do. And the Lord says to us, if we are going to be able to overcome, we must carry with us the sword of the Spirit so that when the enemy attacks the truth of God's word, we put on the belt of truth. When the enemy leads you into sin or reminds you of past sin, you put on the breastplate of righteousness so that when the enemy begins to bring disharmony between you and others, you put on the shoes of peace so that when the enemy causes fear to grip your heart, you take up the shield of faith so that when the enemy brings doubt and fear into your salvation, into your life, put on the helmet of salvation.

And when you just simply feel like going down, take up the sword of God's Spirit. You know, friends, when Paul wrote, I believe under God's inspiration, he had you and me in mind. He had the businessman in mind, the man who goes out into the world every day and who carries with him all the concerns and all the decisions and all the planning and all the strategizing needed to be a businessman in today's world. I don't think that Paul was just simply looking at a Roman soldier and using him for an analogy, stand firm man, stand firm, be ready for battle. I believe that what the apostle Paul was talking about was not just the businessman, but he was talking about the business woman working in business with all the juggling act and the things that need to be done.

Going to work in the morning and being concerned at the same time about keeping her home together and preparing meals and perhaps the children and those who are looking after them and having to juggle all the things that women in the workplace have to juggle. Perhaps what Paul was thinking about was you and me. He thought about the women, the ladies who work at home, our precious mothers who work at home. I call them child development specialists.

Our ladies, our wives, our mothers who are there running around all over the place, glorified taxi services, going to ball games and PTO meetings, juggling calendars, picking up dirty socks, talking to the washing machine, preparing this and that and the next thing, organizing, strategizing and doing everything else and making it possible for you and for me to be where we are. I think that Paul wasn't just thinking about a Roman soldier. I think he was thinking about our senior adults.

So precious. Many of whom have said, I'm retired. I've retired. I've come into a new understanding of this word retirement. I'm coming to a brand new understanding of it. I've retired and yet God has taken our senior adults and he has used them and he's multiplying his joy through their lives and he's saying to our senior adults, sir, ma'am, put on the whole armor of God.

Perhaps he had in mind a single adult who doesn't have a whole lot of people to go home to every night. How would we live in this world if we didn't do what God told us to do? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart in Jesus name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed along with Dr. Don Wilton moments ago, welcome to the family of God or welcome home if you rededicated your life. Either way, Dr. Wilton has wonderful resources he wants you to have absolutely free if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD.

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The real criterion by which God chooses to bless people. Till then, stay connected on our website at www.tewonline.org.